Senegal

The cost of vaccinating the world against COVID-19 could be at least five times cheaper if pharmaceutical companies weren’t profiteering from their monopolies on COVID-19 vaccines, campaigners from the People’s Vaccine Alliance said today.

In reaction to the postponement of the Sahel donor conference, which was due to take place on 18 June, Oxfam together with Action Against Hunger, CARE International, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Save the Children, warned of a "hunger pandemic" in the Sahel on top of multiple crises, particularly as a result of COVID-19, conflict and the onset of the lean season.  24 million people (included children) are already in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

Inequality is at crisis levels in West Africa, yet these governments are less committed to reducing inequality than the rest of the continent.

The crises the Sahel faces, whether they be of a humanitarian, environmental, or security nature, are all rooted in the inequality and profound sense of injustice that permeate Sahelian societies.

Extractive industries present potentially large opportunities for developing countries. Oxfam has produced a detailed study of the political economy of decision making, with research conducted in Peru, Ghana, Senegal and Tanzania.

In response to President Obama’s climate plan announcement scheduled for this afternoon Gawain Kripke, research and policy director for Oxfam America said:
 

In 2012, the Sahel region of West and Central Africa was once again hit by a severe food crisis, affecting over 18 million people at its peak. At the start of 2012, when the crisis

In a new report, 'Learning the Lessons', international agency Oxfam says that the aid community needs to fundamentally change the way it deals with food crises in the region and help communities to better prepare for recurring emergencies.